Storage unit

ABSTRACT

A storage unit having a cabinet with closed bottom, rear, and side walls, and a cabinet shelf connected to the top of said cabinet to form a supporting surface thereon. Lower and upper tracks are formed in vertical alignment along the front face of said cabinet on the bottom wall thereof and on the underside of said cabinet shelf, respectively, and sliding doors are carried in said tracks for sliding movement across the front face of said cabinet. A second shelf is retained in spaced relation above said cabinet shelf by a pair of end panels lockingly engageable therebetween, and additional pairs of end panels and shelves are mountable on said second and subsequent shelves.

United States Patent 11 1 Nowak Nov. 12, 1974 STORAGE UNIT v Primarv Examiner-James C. Mitchell R h M. N k, W lb h M [75] Inventor alp owa 1 Ta am ass Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Trask, Jenkins & Hanley [73] Assignee: Tucker Manufacturing Corporation,

Columbus, Ind. [57] ABSTRACT [22] Flcd: 1973 A storage, unit having a cabinet with closed bottom, [21] Appl. No.: 427,924 rear, and side walls, and a cabinet shelf connected to v the top of said cabinet to form a supporting surface thereon. Lower and upper tracks are formed in verti- [52] CI 312/108 0 cal alignment along the front face of said cabinet on 5] I t Cl A47) 87 00 the bottom wall thereof and on the underside of said d 07 cabinet shelf, respectively, and sliding doors are car- 1 le i gg ried in said tracks for sliding movement across the l /5 front face of said cabinet. A second shelf is retained in 4 spaced relation above said cabinet shelf by a pair of [56] References cued end panels lockingly engageable therebetween, and

UNITED STATES PATENTS additional pairs of end panels and shelves are mount- 753,678 3/1904 Dannenberg 108/111 X able on said second and subsequent shelves. 1,038,813 9 1912 Young l08/l0l x 3,125,385 3/1964 Friedman 312/107 9 Claims, 7 Drawing Figure-S- STORAGE UNIT SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In accordance with the present invention, a storage unit is provided comprising a cabinet having closed bottom, rear, and side walls. Each side wall has a pair of hooks at its upper end lockingly connecting said cabinet to a shelf which forms a top wall for the cabinet and a supporting surface on top of the cabinet. An

upper track extends along the underside of the shelf near the front thereof to provide a pair of downwardly open, longitudinally extending grooves, and a lower track extends along the cabinet bottom wall near the front thereof to provide a pair of upwardly open, longitudinally extending grooves which are disposed in vertical alignment with the upper track grooves. A pair of doors have their upper and lower edges respectively carried in the upper and lower grooves and are each slidable across the front face of the cabinet to permit easy access to the cabinet interior.

A pair of end panels are provided at the opposed ends of the unit. Each of said panels has a pair of downwardly projecting fingers at its lower edge lockingly received in openings in the shelf mounted on top of the cabinet for mounting said panels thereon. A pair of hooks project upwardly from each of said panels and are received in openings in a second shelf whereby said BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The accompanying drawings illustrate the invention. In such drawings:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a storage unit embodying the invention; I

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary perspective view of one end of the cabinet of the storage unit shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged vertical section taken along the line 3--3 of FIG. 1; v

FIG. 4 is an enlarged horizontal section taken along the line 44 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged perspective view of an end panel shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is an enlarged fragmentary vertical section taken along the line 6-6 of FIG. 1, with portions thereof being broken away; and

FIG. 7 is a fragmentary vertical section taken along the line 7-7 of FIG. 6.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT. I

A storage unit embodying this invention is shown in FIG. 1, and generally comprises a lower cabinet 12 having an opening across the front thereof which is closable by slidable doors 14 and '15. A cabinet shelf 16 is lockingly connected to the top of the cabinet 12, and a pair of and panels 18 are lockingly coupled to the cabinet shelf 16 and to a second shelf 20 to retain the shelves l6 and 20 in parallel, vertically spaced relation. Additional pairs of end panels 19 can be connected to the second shelf 20 and to subsequent shelves 22 to form a storage unit having any desired number of parallel shelves mounted above the cabinet 12.

The cabinet 12 is formed as a molded plastic unit having interconnected bottom, rear, and side walls 24, 26, and 28. The front and top faces of the cabinet 12 are substantially open. The front face, however, includes a lip 30 extending'upwardly a short distance from the bottom wall 24, and front panels 32 project laterally inwardly a short distance from the side walls 28 to help locate the sliding doors 14 and 15, as will be hereafter described in greater detail. One or more hanger holes 25 are formed through the rear wall 26, as shown in FIG. 2, to permit the cabinet to be mounted on a vertical surface such as a wall, and if desired, rearwardly projecting spacers 27 shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 can be formed on the back side of said rear wall 26 to assure that the unit will hang vertically with respect to the wall. A downwardly projecting pair of ribs 34 are also formed on the underside of the bottom .wall 24 to support the cabinet 12 in a level position on a horizontal surface. 1

As best shown in FIG. 2, each of the cabinet side walls 28 has a pair of laterally spaced hooks 36 which project upwardly and outwardly from itsupper edge. Similarly, hook-like projections 38 project upwardly from the top of each of the front panels 32 and the top of the rear wall 26. The projections 38 on the rear wall are disposed in alignment with the projections 38 on the front panels 32. The hooks 36 and the projections 38 locate the cabinet shelf 16 in position atop the cabinet 12, and lockingly interconnect said shelf and cabinet.

As shown in FIGS.-1 and 3, the cabinet shelf 16 is conveniently formed as a plastic molding, and comprises a horizontally disposed supporting surface 40 having a border skirt 42 projecting equidistantly upwardly and downwardly'from its periphery. A pair of laterally spaced end slots 44 and a pair of side slots 46 are formed in the shelf surface 40 at each end of the shelf. The slots 44 are positioned to receive the hooks 36 formed on each cabinet side wall 28, and the side slots 46 are positioned to receive the projections 38 on the cabinet rear wall 26 and front panels 32. To connect the shelf 16 to the cabinet l2, the shelf is placed over the cabinet 12 with the slots 44 and 46 in alignment with the cabinet books 36 and projections 38. The shelf is then pressed downwardly with the hooks 36 being received in the slots 44 and snapped against the upper face of the shelf surface 40.

To accommodate the sliding doors l4 and 15, an upper track 48 is formed on the underside of the shelf 16 and a lower track 49 is formed on the cabinet bottom wall 24. As shown in FIG. 3, the upper track 48 is comprised of a forward rib 50, an intermediate rib 52, and a rearward rib 5.4, each of which projects downwardly from the underside of the cabinet shelf 16 and extends across the face of the cabinet near the front thereof. The ribs 50, 52, and 54 thus define a forward groove 56 and a rearward groove 58 for slidably receiving the upper edges of the doors 14 and 15, respectively. The lower track 49 comprises a forward rib. 60

rearward groove 66 for slidably receiving the lower edges of the doors 14 and 15, respectively. The grooves 64 and 66 of the lower track 49 are disposed in vertical alignment with the grooves 56 and 58 of the upper track 48 and act in combination therewith to slidably support the doors 14 and 15 across the frontal width of the cabinet.

The doors 14 and 15 are each slightly longer than one-half the frontal width of the unit so that when the doors are closed, they will slightly overlap near the center of the unit as seen in FIG. 1 to thereby cover and close the entire front face of the cabinet. If desired, handles 68 or the like can be mounted on each of the doors 14 and 15 to facilitate the easy opening and closing thereof.

One of the end panels 18 for interconnecting the cabinet shelf 16 and the second shelf is shown in detail in FIG. 5. Although only one end panel 18 is shown by way of example, the other end panel 18, as well as the upper end panels 19, are identical thereto. Conveniently, the end panel 18 is formed as plastic molding, and generally includes an end wall 70 bordered on each side by a side skirt 72 projecting inwardly at a right angle to the plane of the end wall 70. The bottom edge of the end wall 70 is rectilinear, while the lower portion of each side skirt terminates in a downwardly projecting finger 76 extending laterally inwardly from said skirt.

Adjacent their upper ends, the skirts 72 are offset inwardly toward each other to define a pair of horizontally disposed ledges 77. The upper edges of the end wall 70 and the portions of the skirts 72 adjacent thereto project inwardly for short distances from said end wall and skirts to form a horizontal supporting platform 78 parallel with the ledges 77. A pair of hooks 80 project upwardly and laterally outwardly from the inner edge of platform 78 along the upper edge of the end wall 70. Said hooks are identical both in general shape and spacing to the books 36 formed on the cabinet side walls 28. Similarly, ahook 84 projects upwardly and inwardly from the platform 78 at the top of each skirt 72.

The end panels 18 are connected at their lower and upper ends between the shelves 16 and 20, and in a like manner, the end panels 19 are connected between the shelves 20 and 22. If desired, additional end panels may be connected to the shelf 22 in the same manner to support still a fourth shelf (not shown). In this manner, any number of shelves can be assembled onto. and above the cabinet 12 in a vertically spaced parallel relationship.

As shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, in assembling the shelves and end panels, the end panels 18 are connected at their lower ends to the opposed ends of the cabinet shelf 16 with their skirts 72 facing inwardly toward each other. The end wall 70 of each panel 18 is located between the upwardly projecting cabinet hooks 36 and the border skirt 42 at one end of the shelf 16. The lower edge of said end wall 70 and the lower edges of the skirts 72 outside the extent of the fingers 76 rest on the shelf supporting surface 40 with said fingers projecting through the slots 46. The fingers 76 are received in slots 46 outside the cabinet projections 38 with their upper edges 86 engaging the underside of the shelf 16 to thus connect the panels to said shelf.

The hooks 80 and 84 at the top of the panels 18 connect the shelf 20 to said panels and thus to the cabinet 12. Said shelf, as well as shelf 22, is identical to the cabinet shelf 16 with the exception that the track 48 can be omitted therefrom. Thus, as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, the central supporting surface 21 of the shelf 20 rests upon the platforms 78 of the panels 18, and the hooks 80 and 84 are snap-fit into the end and side slots 44 and 46 for lockingly mounting said shelf on the panels 18.

The end panels 19 and shelf 22 are connected to shelf 20 in the same manner that end panels 18 and shelf 20 are connected to shelf 16. Thus, as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, the fingers 76 on panels 19 are received in the side slots'46 in shelf 20 with their upper edges 86'abutting the underside of the shelf supporting surface 21, and the lower edges of the end wall 70 and the portions of the skirts 72 outside the extent of said fingers resting on the supporting surface 21 immediately inwardly from the shelf skirt 85. As shown, the fingers 76 are received in the slots 46 on shelf 20 outwardly from the hooks 84 on panels 18 with their lower edges engaging the ledges 77 on the panels 18.

The upper ends of the panels 19 have their hooks 80 and 84 inserted through and snap-fit in the end and side slots 44 and 46 in the supporting surface 23 of shelf 22. Thus, with the underside of its supporting surface 23 resting on the platforms 78 on the panels 19 and the hooks 80 and 84 engaging the top face of said surface, the shelf 22 will be lockingly retained on said panels.

I claim:

1. A storage unit, comprising a cabinet having interconnected bottom, rear, and side walls, a lower track on said bottom wall adjacent the front thereof, a plurality of first hooks on said rear and side walls, a first shelf having a plurality of first slots in which said first hooks are received for mounting said first shelf on the top of said cabinet, an upper track on said first shelf adjacent the front thereof, a pair of doors slidably carried in said upper and lower tracks, a pair of and panels at the opposite ends of said first shelf and projecting upwardly therefrom, each of said end panels having a pair of fingers lockingly received in a pair of said first slots for mounting said end panels on said first shelf, a plurality of second hooks on the upper end of each of said end panels, and a second shelf carried on the upper ends of said end panels, said second shelf having a plurality of second slots formed therein in which said second hooks are received for connecting said second shelf to said end panels.

2. A storage unit, comprising a cabinet having interconnected bottom, rear, and side walls, a plurality of first hooks on said rear and side walls, a first shelf having a plurality of first slots in which said first hooks are received for mounting said first shelf on the top of said cabinet, a pair of end panels at the opposite ends of said first shelf and projecting upwardly therefrom, each of said end panels having a pair of fingers lockingly received in a pairof said first slots for mounting said end panels on said first shelf, a plurality of second hooks on the upper end of each of said end panels, and a second shelf carried on the upper ends of said end panels, said second shelf having a plurality of second slots formed therein in which said second hooks are received for connecting said second shelf to said end panels.

3. A storage unit as set forth in claim 2 in which each of said first and second shelves comprises a supporting surface having a vertically extending peripheral skirt extending therearound, the skirt on said first shelf extending downwardly around the upper edges of said cabinet rear and side walls, and said cabinet rear wall has a pair of openings formed therein and a pair of spacers projecting rearwardly therefrom below said openings.

4. A storage unit as set forth in claim 2 in which each of said end panels comprises an end wall having a pair of side skirts projecting inwardly therefrom, and said fingers project downwardly from said side skirts and said second hooks project upwardly from said end wall and skirts. v

5. A storage unit as set forth in claim 2 in which each of said end panels comprises an end wall having a pair of side skirts projecting inwardly therefrom, a platform projecting inwardly from the upper edges of said end jecting inwardly therefrom, a platform projecting inwardly from the upper edges of said end wall and side skirts upon which said supporting surface on said second shelf rests, and said fingers project downwardly from said side skirts and said second hooks project upwardly from said platform, the lower ends of said end walls being supportedon the supporting surface of said first shelf between the peripheral skirt thereon and said first hooks.

7. A storage unit, comprising a cabinet having interconnected bottom, rear, and side walls, a first shelf extending over the top of said cabinet, and having a plurality of slots formed therein, first locking means on said rear and side walls lockingly received in said slots for mounting said first shelf on said cabinet, a pair of panels extending upwardly from the opposite ends of said first shelf, second locking means on the lower ends of said panels lockingly received in said slots in said first shelf for mounting said panels thereon, a second shelf having a plurality of slots formed therein, and third locking means on the upper ends of said panels lockingly received in the slots on said second shelf for mounting said second shelf on said panels in parallelism with said first shelf.

8. A storage unit, comprising a cabinet having interconnected bottom, rear, and side walls; first, second, and third shelves each including a supporting surface having a plurality of slots formed therein and a vertically extending peripheral skirt; a plurality of first hooks on said rear and side walls received in the slots in said first shelf for mounting said first shelf on the top. of said cabinet; a first pair of end panels interconnecting said first and second shelves and a second pair of end panels interconnecting said second and third shelves; each end panel in each pair having an end wall with a pair of side skirts projecting inwardly therefrom; a platform projecting inwardly from the upper edges of said end wall and said side skirts, with the platforms on said first and second pairs of end panels abutting the supporting surfaces on said second and third shelves respectively; a plurality of second hooks projecting upwardly from said platforms with said second hooks on said first and second pairs of end panels being received in the slots in said second and third shelves respectively; fingers projecting downwardly from said side skirts, with the fingers on said first and second pairs of end panels being received in the slots in said first and second shelves respectively; and offsets in said side skirts adjacent the upper ends thereof forming horizontal ledges parallel to said platforms, with the fingers on said second pair of end panels being received in the slots on said second shelf and abutting the ledges on said first pair of end panels.

9. A storage unit, comprising a cabinet having interconnected bottom, rear, and side walls, a lip projecting upwardly from said bottom wall and extending thereacross, a pair of front panels extending inwardly from the front edges of said side walls at the opposite sides of said cabinet, a lower track on said bottom wall extending across the front of said cabinet, a first shelf having an upper track mounted thereon in alignment with said lower track, means on said rear and side walls lockingly mounting said first shelf on the upper ends of said rear and side walls, a pair of doors slidably carried in said upper and lower tracks immediately rearwardly of said lip and front panels, a pair of end panels at the opposite ends of said first shelf and projecting upwardly therefrom, means on the lower ends of said end panels for connecting them to said first shelf, a second shelf carried on the upper ends of said end panels, and means on the upper ends of said end panelsfor lockingly mounting said second shelf thereon. 

1. A storage unit, comprising a cabinet having interconnected bottom, rear, and side walls, a lower track on said bottom wall adjacent the front thereof, a plurality of first hooks on said rear and side walls, a first shelf having a plurality of first slots in which said first hooks are received for mounting said first shelf on the top of said cabinet, an upper track on said first shelf adjacent the front thereof, a pair of doors slidably carried in said upper and lower tracks, a pair of end panels at the opposite ends of said first shelf and projecting upwardly therefrom, each of said end panels having a pair of fingers lockingly received in a pair of said first slots for mounting said end panels on said first shelf, a plurality of second hooks on the upper end of each of said end panels, and a second shelf carried on the upper ends of said end panels, said second shelf having a plurality of second slots formed therein in which said second hooks are received for connecting said second shelf to said end panels.
 2. A storage unit, comprising a cabinet having interconnected bottom, rear, and side walls, a plurality of first hooks on said rear and side walls, a first shelf having a plurality of first slots in which said first hooks are received for mounting said first shelf on the top of said cabinet, a pair of end panels at the opposite ends of said first shelf and projecting upwardly therefrom, each of said end panels having a pair of fingers lockingly received in a pair of said first slots for mounting said end panels on said first shelf, a plurality of second hooks on the upper end of each of said end panels, and a second shelf carried on the upper ends of said end panels, said second shelf having a plurality of second slots formed therein in which said second hooks are received for connecting said second shelf to said end panels.
 3. A storage unit as set forth in claim 2 in which each of said first and second shelves comprises a supporting surface having a vertically extending peripheral skirt extending therearound, the skirt on said first shelf extending downwardly around the upper edges of said cabinet rear and side walls, and said cabinet rear wall has a pair of openings formed therein and a pair of spacers projecting rearwardly therefrom below said openings.
 4. A storage unit as set forth in claim 2 in which each of said end panels comprises an end wall having a pair of side skirts projecting inwardly therefrom, and said fingers project downwardly from said side skirts and said second hooks project upwardly from said end wall and skirts.
 5. A storage unit as set forth in claim 2 in which each of said end panels comprises an end wall having a pair of side skirts projecting inwardly therefrom, a platform projecting inwardly from the upper edges of said end wall and side skirts upon which said second shelf rests, and said fingers project downwardly from said side skirts and said second hooks project upwardly from said platform.
 6. A storage unit as set forth in claim 2 in which each of said first and second shelves comprises a supporting surface having a vertically extending peripheral skirt extending therearound, and each of said end panels comprises an end wall having a pair of side skirts projecting inwardly therefrom, a platform projecting inwardly from the upper edges of said end wall and side skirts upon which said supporting surface on said second shelf rests, and said fingers project downwardly from said side skirts and sAid second hooks project upwardly from said platform, the lower ends of said end walls being supported on the supporting surface of said first shelf between the peripheral skirt thereon and said first hooks.
 7. A storage unit, comprising a cabinet having interconnected bottom, rear, and side walls, a first shelf extending over the top of said cabinet, and having a plurality of slots formed therein, first locking means on said rear and side walls lockingly received in said slots for mounting said first shelf on said cabinet, a pair of panels extending upwardly from the opposite ends of said first shelf, second locking means on the lower ends of said panels lockingly received in said slots in said first shelf for mounting said panels thereon, a second shelf having a plurality of slots formed therein, and third locking means on the upper ends of said panels lockingly received in the slots on said second shelf for mounting said second shelf on said panels in parallelism with said first shelf.
 8. A storage unit, comprising a cabinet having interconnected bottom, rear, and side walls; first, second, and third shelves each including a supporting surface having a plurality of slots formed therein and a vertically extending peripheral skirt; a plurality of first hooks on said rear and side walls received in the slots in said first shelf for mounting said first shelf on the top of said cabinet; a first pair of end panels interconnecting said first and second shelves and a second pair of end panels interconnecting said second and third shelves; each end panel in each pair having an end wall with a pair of side skirts projecting inwardly therefrom; a platform projecting inwardly from the upper edges of said end wall and said side skirts, with the platforms on said first and second pairs of end panels abutting the supporting surfaces on said second and third shelves respectively; a plurality of second hooks projecting upwardly from said platforms with said second hooks on said first and second pairs of end panels being received in the slots in said second and third shelves respectively; fingers projecting downwardly from said side skirts, with the fingers on said first and second pairs of end panels being received in the slots in said first and second shelves respectively; and offsets in said side skirts adjacent the upper ends thereof forming horizontal ledges parallel to said platforms, with the fingers on said second pair of end panels being received in the slots on said second shelf and abutting the ledges on said first pair of end panels.
 9. A storage unit, comprising a cabinet having interconnected bottom, rear, and side walls, a lip projecting upwardly from said bottom wall and extending thereacross, a pair of front panels extending inwardly from the front edges of said side walls at the opposite sides of said cabinet, a lower track on said bottom wall extending across the front of said cabinet, a first shelf having an upper track mounted thereon in alignment with said lower track, means on said rear and side walls lockingly mounting said first shelf on the upper ends of said rear and side walls, a pair of doors slidably carried in said upper and lower tracks immediately rearwardly of said lip and front panels, a pair of end panels at the opposite ends of said first shelf and projecting upwardly therefrom, means on the lower ends of said end panels for connecting them to said first shelf, a second shelf carried on the upper ends of said end panels, and means on the upper ends of said end panels for lockingly mounting said second shelf thereon. 